The Leap-font (Music)
The Leap-font Wavetable Synthesis '(or Leap-font for short) is LeapFrog's trademark soundfont and LeapFrog's audio sound engine that was used for a variety of LeapFrog toys, such as the LeapPad, Learning Screen Karaoke, Imagination Desk, Leapster, See and Learn Driver, and a few others to give examples. It is a sound-font MIDI hardware synth (sound/music playback routine) who has an embedded on-chip synth in a system (e.g. LeapPad and Leapster) directing SYN files referring to a set of commands representing notes and onboard instruments inside the audio engine. In some embodiments, the actual instrument sound files are not stored with the SYN audio resource, just the commands. This allows musical sets of commands to specify complex musical pieces with very high quality in very small space. The instrument sounds and notes are stored in a RAW audio resource file which may be an uncompressed binary file representing a sound. It may be used when high quality audio output is desired. It is sometimes nicknamed as the LeapPad MIDI Sequencer, first created by Explore Technologies for the Odyssey Globe. It was architected by Richard Marriott and Brad Fuller. Notable Uses The following list gives examples of Leap-font uses in the music written for LeapFrog-oriented products. * LeapPad ''(the most notable use) * My First LeapPad (notable use) * Little Touch LeapPad * Imagination Desk * Turbo Twist Line * School Time LeapTop * Explorer Globe (under the name Odyssey Globe; worldwide premiere) * Leap’s Learning Band * See and Learn Driver * Learning Screen Karaoke * Leapster (another most notable use) * Tag Reader Which People Used This Soundfont? * Jeanne Parson * Jay Cloidt * Judy Munsen * Brad Fuller * Jon Herbst * Kristin Miltner * Chris Daddio * Gary Schwantes * Bevin Kelley * Kendra Juul * Mark Bartscher Instrument List Each instrument named in the timbre banks also includes an abbreviation of that instrument's name. All of the instruments are named by Brad Fuller, displaying these Program Numbers in proper GM coding order with bank selection 0. '''Drums and Percussion: On MIDI Channel 10, each MIDI Note number ("Key#") corresponds to a different drum sound, as shown below. GM-compatible instruments must have the sounds on the keys shown here. While many current instruments also have additional sounds above or below the range show here, and may even have additional "kits" with variations of these sounds, only these sounds are supported by General MIDI Level 1 devices. Notes * All melodic presets belong to bank select 0. * For the melodic presets, the timbre numbers 13(2), 22, 23(2), 25(2), 29(2), 71(2), 74(2), 75(2), 111(2) belong to My First LeapPad, LeapZone learning toys or the Green Explorer Globe. * Melodic preset timbre number 72(2) belongs to the Blue Explorer Globe. * For those instruments with special symbols, MFLP is My First LeapPad and LSK is Learning Screen Karaoke. * Melodic preset timbre number 22 also belongs to Leapster. Instrument Bundle Collections Sound History * In 1997, Explore Technologies used it with a number of instruments for the Odyssey Globe, making this the "Worldwide Premiere". * In 1998-99, more instruments are added, such as banjo, fiddle, panpipes, saxophone, and a few others to give examples. * In 2000-2001, there are more uses of a diverse variety of instruments. * In 2002-03, the instrument sets are expanded into the list. * In 2004-present, all of the instrument sets are now complete. Sound Clips *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOydhk7JUI Listen to this audio demonstration of how the Leap-font sounds. (demonstration music/audio clip used: "Eye Spot" from the LeapPad book, The Seven Continents; composed by Jeanne Parson)] *[https://soundcloud.com/bradfuller/kid-stuff-demo Listen to another great audio demonstration of music from LeapPad and Leapster compositions by Brad Fuller, showcasing the Leap-font! (Note that the music originally played from the platforms are re-mastered in HD with samples at 44,100 kHz.)] *[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ulMKxDQoE Hear another Leap-font demonstration using the LeapPad/Leapster/Imagination Desk instrument collection! (demonstration music/audio clips used: all national anthems of North America from the LeapPad books The Seven Continents/World Geography [all arrangements by Bradley Allen Fuller)'''']' ' What Others Have to Say About the Leap-Font * '''From Kristin Miltner: ' "While in some old hard drives cleaning house, I discovered that some past self, one a lot less jaded than I am now, had carefully saved .mp3 -- or in some cases even .aif versions of LOTS and LOTS of my Leapster game music... '' ''I remember how diligent me and Mark Bartscher were. We could have settled for porting a generalized set of samples onto the "Base-rom", but no... we had to make sure the audio engine had the capability to extend the instrument set to the cart each time, for nearly each individual title, some synths that were a little more complex than just a square or sawtooth wave for our arcade titles, some percussion variety, kitty meows, something that sounds like a gamelan but I can't remember what it was exactly now... all kinds of different hand-built sample sets... and so on. In these BGMs I even adjusted layers of decreasing velocity in repeated notes to imitate BPM-synced delay effects (no DSP). I can't believe I was so precious about these. Listening back to some of them, I can't believe that they let me get away with so much "beepy" electronica in games for the children. '' ''I hope they make you laugh out loud like I did." * From composer Brad Fuller, explaining about the music sequencer in the Explorer Globe: "We wanted some real instruments that would fit inside this "globe", so I decided to architect a music sequencer for it, with the use of real instruments. Each note and instrument must be stored into a binary RAW data, and I put them all together to fit the music data inside the globe. We even coded the GM instruments in order (e.g. Grand Piano: 00, Violin: 41, Flute: 73, and so on). It worked out perfectly. I called it "The Leap-font (Explore Technologies MIDI Synthesizer Performer (former name in 1997))". The platform was finally done with sound, and we would continue doing it for the LeapPad and Leapster, both restricted embedded systems. The Leap-font is, to me, like a synthesizer with onboard instruments. We would do these kinds of music written for LeapFrog and other children-oriented products, respectfully." * 'From CEO Mike Wood and inventor Jim Marggraff, talking about the LeapPad mainstream models and Imagination Desk: ' "Music data, for example, may be transferred to and from the interactive learning appliance according to a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) or MIDI-like protocol. Each SYN audio resource may be a set of commands representing instruments and notes. In some embodiments, the actual instrument sound files are not stored with the SYN audio resource, just the commands. This allows musical sets of commands to specify complex musical pieces with very high quality in very small space. '' ''The instrument sounds and notes are stored in a RAW audio resource file which may be an uncompressed binary file representing a sound. It may be used when high quality audio output is desired." Gallery * Official Leapster Soundfont logo can be found here Trivia * According to (Vintage Electronics, Gadgets and Animatronics) YouTube channel, he is currently creating the GM-compatible-soundfont - moreover, as an .sf2 file - to sound exactly the same as the actual toys should sound like, with all wav samples upsampled at 44,100 kHz, and in GM Program Coding order as listed above (see Instrument List). He may take some time to make it due to his many other current projects, but version 0.2 (piano, percussion, chromatic percussion) will be available to download soon, so for versions 0.3 (piano, percussion, chromatic percussion, guitars and string instruments), 0.4 (piano, percussion, organs, keyboards, chromatic percussion, guitars, basses, string instruments, brass), 0.5 (piano, percussion, organs, keyboards, chromatic percussion, guitars, basses string instruments, brass, woodwinds (reed and pipe)), 0.6 (piano, percussion, organs, keyboards, chromatic percussion, guitars, basses, string instruments, brass, woodwinds, synth) and 0.7 (piano, percussion, organs, keyboards, chromatic percussion, guitars, basses, string instruments, brass, woodwinds, synth, ethnic, percussive), which will also be available later. * Brett Smith’s YouTube Channel also has all the music played (or given) to all 196 countries on the LeapPad ("Geography: The Seven Continents" and "World Geography") as well as the predecessor Odyssey Globe and LeapFrog Explorer Globes, demonstrating the Leap-font 3 instrument bundle packs, including the Complete instrument bundle pack. * Nicknames for this popular LeapFrog wavetable synthesis are: ** LeapPad MIDI Sequencer ** Explore Technologies MIDI Synthesizer Performer * Some people (around 50%) claim that this should be in Musical Artifacts as a "GM-compatible .sf2 file", containing all 68 instruments instrument presets and 3 drum kits (ripped straight from the Leapster ROM). * The Leap-font is the only soundfont to imitate real instruments and is also proven to be a much better game soundfont, unlike other types of wavetable syntheses from other gaming/educational platforms in the 1990s and early 2000s [e.g. SNES's Super Mario All-Stars/Super Mario World, Super Mario RPG, Kirby's Fun Pak, N64's Super Mario 64, Mario Party 1, 2 and 3, CD-ROM's Mario Teaches Typing 1 and 2, Phillips CD-i's Hotel Mario, GBA's Super Mario Advance 1 to 4 and Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland]. *The Leap-font is a firm favorite by LeapPad/Leapster/LeapFrog toy/retro-gaming and video game music fans from 1997 to today. Category:Toy Category:Music Category:Behind the Toys Category:Toys Category:Game Mechanics Category:Boings Category:Buckets Category:Sound Hardware